DC Comics; $2.95

In 1987, following his lengthy runs as creator-writer-artist on Warlord (1976) from DC and Jon Sable, Freelance (1983) from First Comics, Mike Grell returned to DC for a three-issue, Prestige format mini-series that served as a reset for one of the company’s legacy characters

Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1 seemed to pick up a few cues from the latter day portrayal of Oliver Queen in Batman: The Dark Knight Return, and it gave the character a new setting, a perspective on aging, a deeper exploration of his relationship with Black Canary, and a consistent new tone.

The story is compelling, the art is beautiful, and the combined package is thought-provoking enough that the mini-series led to an on-going series (Green Arrow, 1988, on which Grell served as writer for 80 issues) that ran 11 years. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (and in particular this issue) gave Grell the chance to explore the contradictions in the character, something he did very well.

– J.C. Vaughn